Storm May Move Fish South

It’s a little hard to say what fishing will be like later this week and through the weekend with all kinds of foul weather predicted, but things were shaping up quite nicely right through the middle of the week, and I suspect that any storms will only shake up more fish to put on the feed bag and start moving south.
Otherwise, albies have been doing their albie thing—that is showing up for brief flurries and driving folks nuts as they pursue what often seem like mirages in the water.
Jim Young at Eastman’s Sport & Tackle on East Main Street in Falmouth said there have been a number of boats bobbing around off Waquoit, hoping to get a shot at the sporadic action that way. He also had a couple of guys come in to weigh some bonito they had caught trolling at Hedge Fence; nice catch, except they were false albacore.
Remember that bonito have a continuous dorsal fin, more of a mackerel shape, diagonal stripes, and teeth; little tunny, or false albacore as they are more commonly called, have two dorsals, with front one shaped like the sail on a sailboat, a distinctive, rounder tuna shape, dark, irregularly shaped marks on their green backs, and no real teeth to speak of.
Plus, bonito taste very good, while albies—well, let’s just say that debate continues as some folks, or should I say very few folks, consider them edible.
The word from Mr. Young is there have been some albies off West Falmouth this week, and when I spoke to Tim Folan at Bad Fish Outfitters on Route 28A in North Falmouth, he was preparing to take a look at the waters off Old Silver Beach in his kayak, hoping to connect with a hardtail or two around those parts.

Bass Action
Improving

Bob Samuelson at Red Top in Buzzards Bay also reported a number of boats drifting and moving about off the dolphins at the west entrance to the Canal, where there have been some schools of funny fish around and they have been in the Ditch proper as well, although not with any regularity.
Finally, Standish Bradford from Falmouth Bait & Tackle in Teaticket pointed to State Beach on the Vineyard as an area holding albies from first light to about mid-morning. Having made that trip at least once this week, I can tell you that banging across the sound in order to maybe get a shot at some sporadic action is a very dicey proposition. Folks are also hanging around the entrance to Tashmoo, where there have been some bonito caught, as well as albies.
That funny news aside for now, the word on bass action has been improving, although there really aren’t as many people fishing some areas as there usually are this time of year.
The southside beaches have fish, with eels improving your odds of catching something substantial with stripes around Nobska, Surf Drive, and off the entrances to the salt ponds in Falmouth. Big Hogy’s or Sluggos are another option, along with any number of the soft plastic shad body lures.
Jeff Clabault at Forestdale Bait & Tackle on Route 130 has had a number of folks enjoy success with stripers to the 30-inch range around Popponesset on Storm shads, and there are plenty of smaller bass around as well, from the front beach to the mud spoils to the point and into the cove. Jeff has found his Yo-zuri MagMinnow a good choice at night, and he said they identified the bait in the area as mullet, of all things.

Double Digit
Bluefish

One of the coolest things right now around the Upper Cape, at least to me, is the presence of some really big bluefish, and Jeff said they are hanging around Popponesset and off South Cape Beach. Some of these choppers are legitimate double-digit fish.
Woods Hole is still holding some bass, and the daytime action along the Elizabeths is definitely on the upswing; Davis Yetman caught and released a fish that weighed over 30 pounds using this formula: girth squared times length divided by 800. He also managed a number of other nice bass on live eels, but his brother Robert came back to tie things up in the late going and both brothers tangled with some big bluefish.
Nathan Porter, his wife Robin, and his friend Bob came through with a brace of good bass around our local archipelago over the weekend, and congratulations to Sara Perkins who finally christened the absolutely pristine Maritime Skiff she owns with hubby Ali as they finally kissed a rock along the islands and can now officially be considered Elizabeths’ anglers.
They had a nice fish they had taken earlier in the morning on Sunday, and Ali said he had caught a much larger one that looked to be diseased when they went to clean it. I have caught far too many bass recently with red lesions on their sides. I don’t know what it means, but I’d be interested to hear what other anglers, especially the scientific type, say it is.
You can pick up a few schoolies in most of the inshore waters around Buzzards Bay, with West Falmouth, Red Brook Harbor, and Monument Beach fishing okay, although not gangbusters by any means.
The word from Dick Hopwood at Maco’s in Buzzards Bay is that there are more bass being taken around the west entrance. For the lack of a formal name, the regulars who participate in what Dick calls “The Trash Can Derby” each weekend caught three fish in the 20-pound class around the Maritime Academy and over by Onset. This group of gentlemen gathers each weekend to troll tubes and enjoy breakfast, as well as some great camaraderie.
Dick went on to talk about some very good sea bass fishing around Wings Neck and Scraggy Neck, but they were feeding on the green crabs that tautog fishermen were using. Dick went out himself with squid and clams, two prime baits for sea bass, but to no avail.
There are also some scup around, but remember that the recreational scup season closes tonight (September 26) at midnight. And there are folks who apparently still don’t know that the recreational fluke season closed on August 15 and are still targeting them and taking them home for dinner.
Mike Thomas at M & D’s in Wareham told me that last Friday he enjoyed the best day he has had in the Canal. with five fish over 35 pounds and eight in all, none under 30 inches, using Ron-Z’s. Apparently, the action began to build on Wednesday and reached its height on Friday, and by Saturday there must have been 100 cars in the various turnoffs on both sides on of the Canal.
A number of fish were caught on plugs, added Bob Samuelson, but things are definitely much quieter this week, he confirmed. It appears a lack of bait has really turned the switch off; Bob has seen a few adult pogies, meaning literally three or four swimming by, but other than a few brief pops of finicky fish, things are strangely quiet. Bob fished Pip’s Rip earlier this week for a couple of hours and didn’t have a touch, and many other regulars are finding things tough.

Best Action
Between Bridges

Jeff Miller at Canal Bait & Tackle in Sagamore told of weighing in at least 20 fish in the 25- to 30-pound class each morning when things are going off, with the largest bass they put on the scales a 43-pounder. There is the occasional nice fish being taken on jigs, from bucktails to Ron-Z’s to metals, but they are really working to find them. Much of the action has been between the bridges, and Jeff advised that the west tide has been best, as it is bringing bait in.
Scorton Ledge still has some good bass on it, with the tubes the lure of choice in black or wine red. Over last weekend, there were somewhere in the vicinity of 75 boats working a very small area and some folks elected to fish over the parking lot and did quite well. Others have been working in close off Sandy Neck and catching fish rather than a headache.
Plenty of schoolies in Barnstable Harbor, reported Amy Wrightson at Sportsport in Hyannis, and the Sandwich creeks have been harboring some small bass, with the occasional bigger example taken on live eels up inside under the cover of darkness. Town Neck Beach has also had some surface action at first light.
The school tuna bite remains pretty consistent from Provincetown down along the back side to off Nauset Inlet and the BC buoy, but who knows what the blows will do?
But I do know that Capt. Kevin Malone at Bad Fish is looking longingly at some new water that has moved in around the canyons to the east with a number of what he called reliable sources telling of solid yellowfin and longfin albacore action, although I suspect he will wait for the seas to settle down from the 15- to 18-footers that are predicted.
And congratulations to the folks at the Woods Hole Calcutta Fishing Derby who came up with the idea of a Ladies’ Day for last Sunday, with five members of the distaff fishing community participating. Laurie Balmer won largest fish with an 11.75-pound bass and Jennifer Gaines took the top bluefish, a 9.25-pounder, with Laurie’s fish garnering the grand prize for the day, a luncheon for two at the Landfall Restaurant.